China just drew it’s own red line regarding North Korea

(NationalSentinel) North Korea: Less than a week after meeting with President Donald J. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he was photographed many times smiling and in good spirits, Chinese President Xi Jinping may have taken the White House’s message prior to the meeting more seriously: Help us deal with North Korea or the U.S. will go it alone.

An editorial published by the Chinese government-run Global Times warned of a “bottom line” (not a ‘red line’) that the North Koreans should not cross, lest Pyongyang face the wrath of Beijing’s military:

“China has a bottom line that it will protect at all costs, that is, the security and stability of northeast China… If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back. By that time, it is not an issue of discussion whether China acquiesces in the US’ blows, but the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will launch attacks to DPRK nuclear facilities on its own.”

Beijing went on to note that it would be “understandable” were the U.S. to strike the “DPRK” (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the formal title of North Korea), and appears to be justifying any such attack as the best thing for the world:

A strike to nuclear facilities of the DPRK is the best military means in the opinion of the outside world.

Firstly, the locations of DPRK nuclear facilities are fixed and known to the outside.

Secondly, once the attack is launched, the DPRK’s nuclear weapons process will be permanently suspended. It has limited resources of nuclear materials and is strictly blockaded in the outside world, erasing the possibility for DPRK to get the materials again.

Thirdly, nuclear weapons is DPRK’s trump card for its defiance of China and the United States. Once this card is lost, it will become obedient immediately.

Finally, if DPRK’s nuclear facilities are destroyed, they will not even fight back, but probably block the news to fool its domestic people. The DPRK will freak out if its nuclear facilities are destroyed.

And, as we have noted repeatedly, should strikes occur China is preparing for a large number of North Korean refugees, but doesn’t plan to deal with them on its own soil. Instead, the Chinese military noted that it would send its forces across the Yalu River into North Korea and deal with resettlement there, rather than in China proper. The editorial said that “the DPRK must not fall into the turmoil to send a large number of refugees,” indicating Beijing appears ready to step in with its military to take control of the situation. Are reports of massive Chinese troop concentrations true, then? This would seem to support that.

Finally, it is Chinese foreign policy doctrine not to allow a Western-aligned government on its border, which is noted in the Global Times editorial as well. If the North Korean regime were to fall, China appears ready to send in its military to “lay the foundation” for a favorable post-war situation, where perhaps a Chinese puppet government is installed in Pyongyang.

Red lines being drawn, battle fleets being assembled, U.S. and South Korean troops already on alert as they take part in the annual Foal Eagle exercises, reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ordering hundreds of thousands of people out of the capital of Pyongyang because there isn’t enough bomb shelter space for everyone, President Donald J. Trump’s cryptic reference to the power of the Navy’s cruise missile subs, at least one of which is now reportedly with the USS Carl Vinson battle group…All signs point to an imminent attack.

And just today, the U.S. dropped the largest conventional ordnance in its inventory on an ISIS supply tunnel and installation in Afghanistan – another signal from the president that he’s not to be taken lightly?

We now know that China, following Xi’s meeting with Trump, is apparently choosing favorable trade conditions with the world’s biggest economy and regional stability over the constant headache of a belligerent little neighbor who can’t seem to figure out when to stop pushing.